Plein Air….Florals

So for the July Watercolor Challenge….I thought I’d try florals in a still-life mode.  It was fun!



Then later that month, I thought I’d try a single rose.



In August….I tried this floral. Should’ve done more flowers…I think I was concentrating on the greenery.



And who amongst us does not like hanging florals?  Good July purchase which doubled as a Daily July watercolor challenge.



Another July watercolor daily challenge piece!  I believe in florals…bring them in to add to environmental beauty and health benefits!  All that Oxygen (O2)…gotta love it



One early summer day….I stayed in the car and painted these gorgeous hanging florals from an outdoor nursery…..then it started to rain!  Thankful for the cover.



And most recently….last week…my view from my studio!  My Christmas cactus is blooming…so I must doing something right

Flower Overgrowth

After doing 4 different Mandelas I needed to focus on something different.  I like my mandelas, but for now, they all started to look the same to me.  I enjoyed my Floral Fauna a lot…it was different and it was colorful.  In sticking to the flower theme I thought I’d try a single flower…..but keep enlarging it.



I came across this mandela on pinterest and I loved the color theme.  So, I thought
I’d try to stick with the blues/purples/greens (the cooler colors).



But I can’t make those colors POP!! I had to bring in the rest of the wheel.  Had to replace some sharpies….Sharpie gets product placement endorsements here!! Haha!  I’m hoping I’ll gets some guts and grab a few of those unpopular colors.



….Applying the pigment….



I didn’t give too much thought to the background, just something graphic.

Freehand Florals

When doing my bathroom upgrade last week, I ended up with 50 gallons of water in my basement.  No worries, it’s all dry now.  So, I’ve been in sort, toss and organize mode lately which has left me little time for drawing.



I did manage to work in my 8x5 moleskine while out and about.



I had a couple guidelines that I tried to follow:

• Only Freehand Flowers
• Outline heavy in Black at the round parts, making an exaggeration of the flower petals.
• Outline again with primary flower color
• Finished off each flower with another exaggerated Black outline flower petal.

I didn’t want to make the flowers too small, so I didn’t draw too many in the white space.  My plan was to add-on to the flowers that were already drawn in order to fill up the white space.



No real method to the colors here….just tried not to lump the same colors together.



Love the vibrancy of Markers!!  Who can agree?

Toddler Dress Two….Watercolor Challenged

Had a little time before class the other night and I really wanted to just pitch these watercolors and do the rest of this drawing in colored pencil!  But….in all fairness I couldn’t say I tried if I gave up that easily.



So, I persevered with the help of my instructor.  Who gave me some really good tips to redo that ruffle that was giving me trouble.  I had to neglect the photo observation and just make the ruffle work in the way the pigment presented itself on the paper.  Much easier that way.  I was able to adjust the orangi-ness of the ruffle some too.



Yes…I am watercolor-challenged!  It’s a whole different way to draw.  The water can be applied to take away pigment or to add pigment.  It’s just one big puzzle….but there is a solution….I just have to play along and pay attention! 

Paisley Inspiration

Since I was travelling last week….I needed a small…portable project.  Stenciled and doodled up a page in my 5x8 watercolor moleskine for the trip.



After I colored that puppy in….I realized what I really want to do…is….make something like this on a grander scale…you know like “wallpaper scale”. So, I hit Dick Blick for their biggest moleskine (16.5 x 12) at their Black Friday sale.



Went to spoonflower.com to see if they stated the repeat dimensions for a roll of wallpaper.  What was I thinking???? No one has a standard repeat dimension that I could find all over google-land!  What is the big secret?  Well….as I thought about it…spoonflower gives me the dimensions for their rolls….and they give me an example dimension for the art to be placed and repeated on that roll.  But it’s totally up to me as to how I want to create/ repeat this pattern or any variation thereof.  Yikes!! Too much control!!  Just tell me what to do and I can do it….. i think!



So here’s page 1 (12” x 8”) the start of a wallpaper paisley pattern.  With me getting total free-reign!  Oh Boy!

Toddler Dress Two

Broke the image down into 3 workable parts….to assist my contour drawing at the start.  I learned this trick a few months ago….and I couldn’t be happier!



Well, had to change the colors from the original again.  The original had a grey background which I made red.



Now the fun begins!



Started on the foot because it was closest.



Messed up the ruffle….hopefully I can disguise it.

Toddler One….in Check

Finished the ballet slipper shoe….thought the flower motif on top would’ve been more difficult, just made it look realistic not exact.



Couldn’t resist adding my markers to the edges.  Just seems to work for me.



Wish that this dress wasn’t so neat and new…didn’t leave much room for imaginary folds.



This was a fun transition from colored pencils to watercolor….[ & watercolor pencils].  I’m still trying to figure out how much water is too much.  Because the tiniest bit of water can move that pigment fast.

Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving! 

Doodle Down

Dabbled in some doodling during a direct flight.  If you plan on proceeding this way…ya gotta have plenty of pockets!



Drafted my drawing the day before departure.



Grabbed my favorite markers.



Would’ve preferred going heartless here….but couldn’t think of anything else.



There’s something magical about using black and white together with primary colors.



Just fun!! Simple and fun....I forgot how much I enjoy this!

INSPIRATION IMAGE…here.

Fabulous Flowers

Revisiting a post from December 2011 that I posted on my squarespace site that I no longer support.

I’ve been a bit busy in ISP land….you see my internet was only giving me 1.5 mb upload and download speed….noticed by my son who was home for a visit.  If I’m a-uploading, he gets kicked off of his “score-keeping” games…so he took it upon himself to do a little research.  I have now switched over to another local company for LESS money.  I now have 20.0 mb speed.  Don’t quote me on the mb??? could be gb for all I know.



Coloring book style starting point.



Since, I really want to sketch…but haven’t found the right picture…I thought I’d do something quick and easy!



I think there’s something magical about watercolor pencils and vibrant markers side by side.  I think they bring out the best in each other.



This picture just makes me happy!! Red and Green together…they belong together like salt and pepper, pen and paper, socks and shoes!!



Aerial view….haha



I took 22 shots of my work-in-progress, then I edit them down to what I want you to see.  Here’s the seventh picture in this post.  Lucky Seven!

I Dance because….

This is my inspiration picture for this drawing.



Contour drew the dancer in…..and listened to how she wanted to be drawn.  I’d already decided she wasn’t going to be sketched.

 

I wanted to draw flowers like Alisa Burke, (all free-handed).  I almost did them all that way.



My idea was to make the figure BOLD (using markers) and the background soft (using watercolor pencils).



It took a lot of restraint to keep those background flowers all light in color. I would’ve rather they were more vibrant….but the point of the picture would’ve been lost.



This was fun!  Still in my whimsey- color- mode.   May just stay this way for awhile.